


Choking on the Sun

by 8pi



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Magic, Marauders plot lines, Werewolf Adam, i've thrown in other characters just to have enough students
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-05-01 11:00:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14519049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/8pi/pseuds/8pi
Summary: Adam's been a werewolf since he was 8; hidden away from the world of magic and treated like a monster. Adam never received his Hogwarts acceptance letter.After finally becoming a student at Hogwarts, Adam is determined to prove that he can succeed, despite his dark secret. Outside of occasionally hanging out with his childhood friend, Blue, Adam keeps to himself, wanting to keep his head down and ace his OWLS. This plan fails almost immediately, when he accidently befriends, Richard Gansey III, much to the horror of Ronan Lynch.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm new to fanfiction so feel free to offer suggestions or other feedback in the comments.  
> Next chapter will be up soon. Hope you enjoy!

Adam remembers it. He remembers vividly the first part of the night, but only vaguely the next. His father was drunk and had just discovered his application form to the private school in town. It was elite and full of stuck up snobs, but it would also guarantee Adam a future beyond this dump. Robert Parrish eyed him with fury. Adam went still, willing himself to blend in with the furniture, willing for someway to avoid what came next.

“Think you’re better than us, do ya, gonna go to some fancy ass school, leaving your family high and dry, to risk the lives of those richy riches with your disease. Well you’ve got another thing coming boy. They'll kick you out and lock you up before the full moon even arrives ” He spat in Adam's direction.

It was unfair, but nothing had ever been fair, life was unfair for Adam Parrish: Beast, son of different monster, product of a town on the edge of nowhere. Adam wasn't meant for greatness. This he knew, but he had wanted the chance to be someone else. To prove he was more than white trash, more than his father, more than this disease.

_His father took everything the disease did not, how was this any different?_ He supposed.

He wanted so badly for his father's words not to ring true. But they did. He probably would have been kicked out or had to drop out to avoid anyone finding out about his condition. The teachers at his current school, underpaid and overworked, hardly had the time to notice absent days and discolored skin, but this new school would have been different. Even if he had failed, and ended up killed or locked up for god forsaken disease, at least he would have known that he had tried. Tried to be something more than it made him. Tried to find a better. Anger rumbled in the bottom of chest. It was an anger that bubbled day and night for Adam. Anger for everything that could have been. But now it was boiling. Adam felt a terrible rage rise up, and yet he cowered anyway, refusing he violence the wolf and his fathers genes called for.

As his father stumbled in his direction, Adam trembled from fear and anger, pretending once again that he could just vanish into the wall, and then suddenly and rather unbelievably it had seemed he did. His father stopped in his tracks and began swing wildly around blinking hard.

“Boy... where’d you go” and when Adam failed to respond.

“Oh you good for nothing piece of …” Adam went to take a step away, but in the process knocked into the lamp CLANG, and then THUMP as it hit the ground

His father looked incredulous. “BOY!” he roared, throwing his newly opened beer can in the direction of the lamp. The can hit Adam, and suddenly he was visible again. Adam took a step backwards, back against the single window of their trailer.

The next part he doesn’t remember very well. His father had charged at him, coiling back his arm as he did.

“What in the hell was that boy. The absolute disrespect. Playing a fucking trick on your old man. You know how I feel about that. ” He punctuated each sentence with his fist.

Adam tried protect his head, but that left his body wide open. He crouched further into the cool window behind him and tried mentally retreating to avoid the pain the pain he knew was coming. His father whipped out his belt.

“Don’t you even think of applying to that poncy ass school for pricks you little shit. I’ve got a good mind to take you out of school all together, so you can get a full-time job and finally pull your damn weight around here.”

Adam panicked. Fear of living in this shitty trailer with his father forever ripped through him. He tried to imagine his life endlessly chained up in the tornado shelter and In that moment, he felt such hatred for the universe for making him the monster he was. _If he were just a little_ braver, Adam thought, _he would have stood his ground and fought back_ , but as it was, he watched desperately as the belt flew towards him, and wished desperately to be out of his father’s reach.

Suddenly, he was on his back in the dirt lot outside the trailer. He sat up, frantically looking around. His father stood there in the window frame, looking more enraged then Adam had ever seen him.

His father began climbing out the window frame. Adam tried scooting back, but to no avail.

He found himself suddenly lifted into air by his collar, and he saw the stair rail to his left and felt himself being forced in that direction. He squeezed his eyes shut just as he felt the explosion on the left side of his face.

Adam lay in the dirt. His head ringing, he tried to sit up. Just barely, he could make out his father retreating into the trailer. Adam could feel something dripping. Bringing his hand up, he felt the warm liquid dribbling down his neck. _Fuck_ he thought. After that things get a little fuzzy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adam hunched in the chair, fiddling with the hem of his sweatshirt trying to figure out how he ended up here.

He had woken up in what looked like some kind school infirmary. After determining that he was able to stand, a nurse had led him out and down the hallway to a seat beside massive oak door.

“Just wait here love. Someone will explain everything soon”. And with a look of pity she left.

Everything felt numb.

Through the closed door he could just make out a conversation happening on the other side. He leaned into the wood paneling trying to make sense of it all. The fact that he had to tilt his head to the right in order to hear served as staunch reminder of how his night began.

“Is there even a precedent for this?”

"How old is he even?”

“Did the owls not deliver the letter?”

"Can he even be a student here with his... err... condition" someone questioned.

Followed by something about it being a first of its kind and them finding evidence that his father had hid the letter and that the werewolf scent had scared off many of the Owls? Adam vaguely recalled a time, a few years ago, when his father went on a rampage about the pestering wildlife invading the trailer park and locked him the closet to ‘protect’ him from the birds.

“Well why was no one sent to collect him?”

“We were dealing the Lynch murder at the time ma’am, so it took while before we could get an investigator out there to look into it. But we did. After observing the boy for a few days…"

Adam suddenly felt hot and shrunk even lower in his seat fearing what they might have seen.

"… looking and testing for signs of magic, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, so we chalked it up to a mistake in the system that somehow got confused with his nature as a magical creature and left. _Perfect,_ thought Adam leaning back, _just one more person who thought he was a mistake._

The door swung open a moment later. And the women, Persephone, he thinks she had said, called him into the room.

He made his way over to where the others stood, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. Adam could feel their eyes scrutinizing him. He stood up a little straighter. T _o hell with them for thinking they could judge him_. A man Adam hadn’t seen before stepped forward, and Adam had to physically refrained himself from flinching.

“Adam. My name is Professor Malory. I’m sure this evening has come as somewhat of shock to you, but I would like to formally welcome you to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Chapter 2

Adam mulled it over in his head.

 _A wizard_ he thought in disbelief. _It didn’t seem possible and yet there was no logical explanation for the events of the previous night._ He would have assumed that the concussion was just messing with his head, but whatever the nurse had given him and all but cleared up the pain. And then there was the fact he was sitting here in an office, decorated with what looked like gifs hung up on the wall, and floating candle sticks.

Almost more importantly, the nurse had also been able to explain that his monthly 'illness' was not some late childhood onset violent personality disorder like his parents had told him. So he was in fact a monster, or a lycanthrope as they had told him. He doesn't remember much of what happens each month other than that he wakes up in excruciating pain, that his father locked him up on a regular basis, or that when the disease had onset was when his mother had stopped caring that his father's temperamental rampages.

As he scanned the wall of the bizarre moving pictures, the landscapes in the photographs felt familiar. his eyes caught on one in particular. Leaning forward, Adam squinted his eyes; the girl in the photo, he’d was pretty sure knew her, but how could that be?

“Good Morning” Persephone said entering the room, pulling him from his line of thought.

Adam leaped to his attention. “Ma’am” 

She grinned. “Please, make yourself comfortable” she said gesturing towards the seat and summoning a tea set seemingly from thin air.

“Feel free to call me Persephone by the way” she told him, making her way to the plush seat on the other side of the desk.

“Tea?”

He nodded and she poured the tea into two delicate china cups; handing one to him and keeping the other for herself.

“I see you were admiring my pictures,” Persephone said stirring in a heaping spoonful of sugar.

Adam shrugged feeling a bit embarrassed, but unsure how to respond.

“It’s no worry dear” She said glancing at them herself. “Most of them are from my visits. Just family photos and the sorts. I saw you eyeing that one in particular.” She said directing his gaze to the photo of the young girl.

“Pretty isn’t she?” Persephone said with glint in her eye.

Adam’s cheeks went pink again and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… I mean no… well, I just thought she look familiar that’s all” he barely managed to articulate.

“How peculiar” she mused. “You’ll meet Blue soon. She’ll be arriving earlier than most students as her mother is a Professor here.”

“Blue?” He questioned.

Persephone chuckled. “Yes, odd name I know” she said laughing at some inside joke.

“No, um I mean do you by chance mean Blue Sargent?” Adam interjected.

“Why yes I do mean Blue Sargent. Have you meet before?”

“She and I used to go to school together before her family moved away.” He explained

“oh how lovely. Well you’ll have a built-in friend to show you round the castle then” She exclaimed. “Blue is a student here of course. She began attending the school after her mother received the teaching position”

“She didn’t get a letter either then?” Adam said hoping he wasn’t the only one the left out.

Persephone paused. “Hmm... well that’s not my really story to tell” and left it at that.

Adam wondered what that meant, but mostly he was just happy that he would get to see a familiar face. Blue and he had never been friends per say, but she’s the closest he’d probably came to having a friend. She had told the other kids, he was her boyfriend, probably to stop the teasing that she would end up without a man like all the women in her family. He went along with it, because she was one of the only students to partner with him in class. He deliberately avoiding getting to close to other people, in case they started to ask too many questions, but he and Blue were friendly, and she liked his card tricks. Looking back, he reckoned she must have known about real magic, so he can’t see why she would have been impressed with his silly illusions, or she had wanted to learn them.

“Well, first things first Adam, we’ve got to get you sorted into your house, so you can move out of the infirmary. And then, we’ll try and get you caught up the foundational material before classes start. It will be hard work, but you seem like a bright young man, so I'm sure you'll be fine.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

His palms felt sweaty and he drummed his fingers nervously against the arm of the chair.

In the few days he’d been here, Adam had already visited the library a couple of times and read up on the houses and their history, so he would be prepared for whichever he ended up in. He was trying to stay impartial on wanting one in particular, so he wouldn’t get his hopes up. He'd tried to look up more about werewolves, but most of the information was in the restricted section, so he'd have to look into how to sneak in there. 

“There is nothing to be worried about Adam. The hat simply looks for certain qualities that standout in a person. It is neither a summation of your personality nor a be all end all about your future skills."

Adam took a deep breath and felt Professor Malory lower the sagging hat on to his head.

“hmmmm I see.” Hummed the hat. “Your definitely very intelligent… quite clever indeed mmhhmm….a very hard worker… I can see that alright, but there’s more. Ahh yes there it is. Ambition. My my my Adam such desire to make something of yourself”

Shame brewed in the pit of his stomach; that the hat could see his desires so clearly, but he refused to be embarrassed for wanting more for himself.

“This is rather exciting. Never sorted a werewolf before" Adam clenched his fists and hoped that the fact he was a werewolf wouldn't stop the hat from sorting him "Ooo yes there’s a fire in you alright. That settles it then. SLYTHERIN!” The hat declared.

Adam nodded keeping his face neutral; outwardly calm, but inside he was freaking out a bit. He was trying not to be prejudiced, but many of the readings he had done suggested that a majority of the dark wizards out there had come from that house. _What if he went dark and turned out just like his father?_

But no, it was fine. _He could handle this and any other problem his house assignment caused for him. It would be fine. Everything would be fine._


	3. Chapter 3

Persephone had kindly offered to take Adam to Diagon Alley to buy his supplies, as she needed to pick up some new quills anyway, or so she told him. She insisted on that he needn't pay for anything; saying that he needn’t worry as Hogwarts had a scholarship fund for students in need, who might require additional assistance. Adam had desperately wanted to refuse, and he felt his pride flare up at her choice of words, but with clenched fists, he begrudgingly accepted her third attempt, when he realized he wasn’t even sure how to get access to any wizarding currency. Adam did make sure though, that his final choices were all absolutely necessary items and that they were from the sale rack, so as not to take advantage. 

Going down the list, they’d managed to get most of what he needed within an hour or two. The robes he picked out, were comfortable enough, but Adam felt it would be a while before he would get used to the feeling of wearing a tie, let alone wearing floor length robes. Most of the books he would be able to check out from the library, there were a few that need purchasing though, and he was pretty sure Persephone had snuck in a couple extra for his own benefit as there was one entitled the “Evolving Understandings of Lycanthropy”, but she brushed it off saying he would need them to catch up. A wand was the last on the list, and also, what Adam was most nervous about. Owning a wand and actually producing magic from it would truly cement the fact that he was not living in some brain damaged induced dream. 

At Ollivander’s, within the dark shadows of the towering walls of wand boxes stuffed tightly into dusty shelves, he was handed wand after wand; waiting for something that evidently was not happening as Ollivander continued to hand him new wands until Adam found himself immensely surprised when the one immediately shot out golden sparks: glittering momentarily suspending in space before dissipating into the air. Olivander’s eyebrows rose a fraction evidently impressed, but for a reason that was beyond Adam.  
“Fir Wood with a Phoenix feather core. How unusual…very rare time indeed. These wands have almost a mind of their own, a quality which is not always appreciated. They are certainly the pickiest when picking their owner, for the creature from which it came is fiercely independent and notoriously hard to tame. The mix with fir wood is peculiar. My grandfather called wands of this wood ‘the survivor’s wand’; it comes from a highly resilient tree, and for this is particularly suited to Transfiguration, and rather favoring to those who are focused, strong-minded and, occasionally, intimidating. A very headstrong wand indeed my boy, it would seem it deems you up to the task, so I need not wish you luck, but I will anyway. 

Adam allowed himself a small smile at further proof that this whole wizard thing wasn’t some universal joke at his expense. He packed up the wand: placing it neatly back in its silk case. He looked forward to trying out some of the spells he had already gone over last night.  
Persephone smiled warmly at him and ushered him out of the store after paying for the wand.

“Ready to meet Blue again?” She asked. “They'll be here in about an hour."  
He looked down at his watch having slightly lost track of time. In his concern over wand shopping, he had almost forgotten they were going to meet Blue, her cousin Orla, and her mother outside the castle wards. Adam had been, and to be honest, still was, a little apprehensive about intruding on the family moment, but Persephone had assured him that Blue was looking forward to seeing him, as she didn’t always appreciate having only Orla for teenage company in the summer.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam and Persephone had made it the meeting place with 5 minutes to spare. She explained to him how the floo system worked and how wards around Hogwarts kept anybody from flooing or apparating into the actual grounds.

Right at 4pm, the three women flooed into existence flurrying up the ashes of the fireplace in the Hogsmeade café. They didn’t really look exactly as he expected. For starters, none of them were wearing the dreary robes he had seen on most of the summer population at Hogwarts wearing.

Orla stepped out first. She looked like a girl that talent scouts approached in the mall, only to find themselves highly regretting their life choices as she obliterated their quest to ‘take advantage of gullible young girls and feed them into a narcissistic industry that destroyed the self-worth of millions’ (what can Orla say, Blue taught her well).

Looking at her, reminded Adam of the ads he’d seen for a Disney movie; he thought she looked how a real-life Moana might if she were older and on Instagram.  Dressed in a white wrap blouse that accentuated her bronzed complexion; she wore loose fitting pants in a blinding flower pattern with bright orange platform sandals. All together the pieces worked to form a well-crafted aesthetic.

Blue on the other hand, her outfit was, well more life a craft store exploded on her. It made Adam smile as he reminisced on the time he had given Blue some flowers (he’ll admit he did have kind of a crush on her back them), that she then dried and turned into an entire jewelry set: earrings, necklace, and all. Her outfit was an explosion of colors, fabrics, and textures.

As Blue emerged from the fireplace, she beamed at Adam

“Holy shit you’re actually here. It’s so good to see you again!” and with that threw her arms around him.  She was seemingly no taller from when they were kids, so he was a bit surprised when he almost grunted from the impact.

Orla snorted, and Blue threw her a dirty look.

Sliding past Blue and  she greeted Adam with a kiss on each cheek.

“I’m Orla” she said eyeing him up and down, popping her bubble gum

“I’m Adam” he replied shyly extending his hand.

“Well aren’t you a tall glass of water” she said taking it.

He wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. From next him, he and could see Persephone and Maura greeting each other with cheek kisses, before turning their attention to him.

Maura smiled sincerely and took his outstretched hand, greeting him warmly. “I hope your settling in well. It all must be coming as quite a shock, but you seem to be handling it alright, at least from what I’ve heard from Persephone.”

Adam glanced at her Persephone, who was greeting her nieces, wondering how much she had told Maura about his situation and whether Maura had passed any of that on to Blue.

“Yeah it was rather intense at first, but I am a bit more settled now” he replied picking his words carefully, so as not reveal how much of a shit show it had actually been.

Persephone and Maura deiced to stay in the café to catch up over some tea; leaving Adam alone with Blue and Orla.

The three of them exited on to the street. The began walking kind of aimless up the alley, when Orla declared they were going to help her find new robes for the upcoming year. And with that, she dragged them into some boutique with cacti that waved at them from in the window. Adam and Blue trailed her round the store making small talk.

“So how’s your summer been?” Adam asked politely.

“Yeah I mean pretty good. Got a job a muggle pizza joint to earn some cash and escape the all family hustle and bustle a bit you know? It’s pretty decent money and the free food doesn’t hurt.” She replied.

No Adam didn’t know. It had just been him and his father for some time now, but he remembered that Blue came from a massive family. He’d visited her home once, (or at least the one she lived in back then) to work on a project,t and remembered there being women and children absolutely everywhere. The house was full of laughter, yelling, and the smell of hot food wafting about.  Everyone had seemed so comfortable and happy. After that visit, he had asked that they meet at the library to work in the future.

“So that must have been something huh? Finding out you’re a wizard and now you’ve got years of work to catch up on? Didn’t the system send you a letter? I always assumed you were going to turn out magical.” She rapid fired at him with a hint of bitterness on the last part that surprised Adam.

“What do other wizards and witches just sense each other?” he asked avoiding the original questions.

“Not most people no. The Sight runs in my family. We can kind of just feel things sometimes”

“Your whole family?”

“Yeah pretty much”

By now, they had made it to the changing rooms, and Blue and Adam were waiting in the plush seats of the little mirrored room just outside the changing stalls.

“What about your family, is it genetic?” she asked pulling a yogurt out seemingly out of know.

Adam, who had been, about to answer gave pause, "um"

"oh sorry, did you want one?" Blue asked.

"I'm alright thanks" He replied.

"so, it it genetic?" she followed up sounding fascinated and not at all horrified as one would expect.

“No, my father’s a muggle and I assume my mother was one as well” he said testing out the word on his tongue.

Blue gave him a look. “No, I meant the fact that your werewolf.” She said in a whisper.

Adam’s eyes bugged out, and he almost fell out of his seat before regaining some composure. “W-w-what I’m not a werewolf… why would you say something like that?” he demanded trying not to sound overly defensive.

“Relax Adam. I’m not going to tell anybody. Although I assume Persephone already knows. And probably Headmaster Gray since he would have had to approve it. I figured it out back when we were kids actually, but you understandably were keeping it a secret. I was just testing your reaction in case anyone mentions anything offhand. I have to say, Adam, that wasn’t great acting, but I can also see that kind of came out of nowhere. So sorry about that."

She paused. "You know what, I bet that’s why they didn’t go and bring you to Hogwarts immediately, those bastards from the ministry probably just waited as long as possible before checking in on you and then left within the hour. The whole system is rigged against anyone who doesn’t meet their elitist magic standards” she ranted.

Adam was still panicking. He felt a little better that his secret was probably safe with Blue if she managed to keep it for all these years, but he also a little pissed with how callously she had brought up it up. 

“Other’s with the Sight might be able to figure it out if they pay too much attention” she continued “but you do a pretty good job keeping people out with your mental walls. I’m impressed you’ve managed to build up such a defense without proper training. But even if they do see through it, they’ll probably keep it to themselves unless death is imminent or some shit; its in the unwritten rules of the Sight and yada yada.

Orla chose this moment to emerge.

“I think I like this one the best so far” She said; looking over to them for confirmation. Adam stared blankly, not really sure what she was looking for him to say. Blue stuck out her tongue.

“Gah, whatever” Orla rolled her eyes and disappeared back behind the velvet curtain.

Remembering what Blue had said about her family’s gift, he nervously glanced towards the changing stall Orla was in. He didn’t want to have trust his secret with anyone more than was necessary to lock him up and explain his absence.

“Can she…” he started

“Oh, Orla, no she doesn’t have the Sight”

“I thought you said your whole family did” Adam asked confused.  

 “Well you might have noticed, but we aren’t all actually related, so not everybody in family, but it is also doesn’t always run through blood lines. It can get pretty chaotic at home trying to figure out who knows what, what with all the actual know-it-alls and then people who just think they-know-it-all blabbering about.”

“And where do you fall on the know-it-all scale” he sassed, feeling some of the comfort he used to feel around Blue.

“HA HA” she said pretending to laugh. “It’s good to have you back Adam”

“You too Blue.” He said, properly smiling for the first time in ages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you read this prior to May 13th, know that i fucked up and had written Calla as Blue's mother, which i have now gone back and corrected


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry this took so long to happen. Basically, after saying there would be a new chapter by the end of the week, I then went 2 weeks with no personal computer, after which, I wrote the chapter, but before publishing it, decided I was going to start writing very long chapters and spent another week or 2 writing another couple of thousand words. But then this new chapter's word doc file in my cloud corrupted itself and was unable to open. And in my pit of despair and busy with my new internship, I gave up on it for a while. But I'm back with a re-typed although much much smaller new chapter and half of one waiting in the wings.  
> Anyway if there are mistake please let me know. I only read over it once. Sorry

“Adammmmmmmmm you can't study the WHOLE day. Who’s going to keep me company.”  Blue said, flinging herself dramatically on to the bed.

He glanced up from his notes, to where she was now laying, and gave her a look. She was hanging upside down off the edge of his bed, while he sat at his desk with a fat pile of books in front of him.

“Come on you’ve been studying ALL day EVERY day since we arrived. You need to get out of here. There’s more to Hogwarts then just the actual academics” She pleaded.

Adam sighed. “Blue, I’m kind of busy….”. He was a little annoyed. Sure, he’d been spending a lot of time studying, but the consequences of him sticking out anymore than he had to. being so new, might cause someone to look a wee bit too hard into why he was new, and they might find out more than they bargained for.

He wanted to make a defensive comment, but if anybody understood where he was coming from, in his worries about being a new in town, it was going to be Blue. He supposed, she kind of had point. He had been spending a lot of time in his room. He sighed again.

 “What did you have in mind?” Adam hadn't exactly done much exploring or hanging out around the castle yet.

“I don’t know, but not this” she said gesturing to Adam’s room. “Maybe something outside, I dunnoooo" She said dragging it out, sounding exasperated.

He huffed out a third and final sigh, and then after a moment replied. “Okay how about this. You give me two more hours of uninterpreted study, and then we can take a walk by the lake. He hadn’t seen much of the grounds yet, but he had seen the big ass lake out through window; might be nice to get a breath of fresh air.

Blue lit up. She gave him big grin and then gave him a stern look. “An hour and half” she declared before zipping out the door.

As agreed upon (well sorta), an hour and a half later, Adam met Blue outside of the Gryffindor’s dormitory. He greeted her by lifting the paper bag with their lunch for her to see. “I picked us up some food”

“Why bless my heart; such a gentleman.” She said impersonating an elderly southern woman placing her hand over chest.

“Ah shucks it was really no trouble little lady” he played along waving a bashful hand.

They made their way out of the castle and down to the lake. Sitting down at foot of a giant tree for shade, Adam started unfolding the paper bag. The grass underneath them was little damp, probably from the morning dew, but not enough to be overly uncomfortable. The sky was clear blue but for a stringy clouds near the horizon.

He pulled out their lunch. Guppy had helped him make some PB&;Js, and, had she given them some apples to snack on.

“Dude heck yeah”, Blue said as she reached to take one of the sandwiches "…wait hold on, where’d you get the ingredients for this. Today's lunch was beef stew or tofu stir fry?”

He had manners, so he had to finish chewing before he answered, "a house elf helped me" he answered nonchalantly.

Blue looked horrified.

"Adam no, you shouldn’t do that."

As Blue started in on him about taking advantage of the house elves, Adam was, at first, offended that she thought he would take advantage of anyone, but she was getting really worked up about it, and Adam felt the blood begin rise to his cheeks; angry and embarrassed that he might have wronged Guppy in some way he didn't know about.

"I can't believe you would just take advantage of the elves like that. The make the same food for everyone and just keep it fresh and ready for us. You can't just be asking them to make whatever you like. Regardless of what others might think, they aren't our slaves."

"But she offered, and I helped" Adam said in a small voice

She kept going. "House Elves are beings too. They have rights that the wizarding community ignores at large.

"Blue"

She kept going

"Blue, I get it. I'm sorry. I thought Guppy wanted to help". Shame and a fraction of anger bubbled up a little inside of him. _He was just trying to do something nice. He should have just gone to a store and seen if he'd had enough money for anything there. Normally he wouldn't spend the money unnecessarily, but Blue, whom he had learned loved PB &Js, had been so supportive of him, and he hadn't spent any money since arriving on campus, as food was provided for the Hogwarts population for "free". He suspected it wasn't free, because it was not the school year yet, but whenever he pushed Persephone on the matter, she avoided the topic of tuition and fees like the plague, saying the Hogwarts made enough money off of its alumni and research papers done by professors that it barely needed to charge students. That sounded fake to Adam, but when he asked Blue, she kind of shrugged and told him the wizarding world worked differently than the muggle one, and that academic institutions didn't try and profit off their students._

During this whole internal monologue, he was having, Blue had continued.

He tried again. " Blue, I'm sorry I didn't know any of that. Guppy offered to help, and I thought it would be fine just this once, since there aren't that many people around for them to feed..."

She stopped mid-sentence. "Guppy?"

Guppy was a house elf Adam had met when he’d wandered into the kitchen late at night unable to sleep. She’d seen as he tried to find the means to make hot cocoa, before approaching him to offer assistance. He’d declined at first and made to leave but paused when Guppy said she’d never actually tried any try hot chocolate before.

“Sir, Guppy wouldn’t mind if you stayed to drink it with her.”

“Is that your name? Guppy”

“Yes, Sir”

“Well it's nice to meet you Guppy.”.

Together they had two cups of hot chocolate. There were even little marshmallows to go in them.

He had memories of his mother making him watery hot chocolate when he was still just a little kid, and these were some of the only fond memories he had of home.

And as Adam explained all of this, Blue slowly turned red herself.

"Wellll” she went up in pitch, “I might have misjudged what happened there. That actually sounds really lovely, but most of what I said is still true." Blue said, and then, after a moment she laughed and punched him the shoulder "You'll be fine once the other students are here, look you’re making friends already"

"Oh yeah" he replied sarcastically. “I'm sure they'll get a real kick out of the poor new kids whose only two friends are house elf and …. Well two-house elves,” He nodded at her general being.

“Excuse me!” she cried.

"Look at you, you’re tiny, you must be part house elf”

Blue tried to look offended but failed when she made expression broke to snicker.

“Okay fine point taken” She said in a truce offering.

 

They eventually finished their food and had started to walk the perimeter of the lake. They weren’t really talking about anything in particular; mostly just enjoying the company and the nice day out.

Blue was in the midst of telling him, why ice coffee was the only kind of coffee a sane person would think is worth drinking, and, that it was best to keep it cold by making coffee ice cubes in the freezer, so that the coffee didn’t get too watery. Adam didn’t have much of an opinion. He only drank the stuff from the shitty machine Boyd, his old boss, kept in his office, and he only drank it to make sure he’d have enough energy to work a full 8 hour shift after school and then still be able to do his homework. He must had said this out loud though, because Blue gave him a look of pity. He immediately started to shut down. Damn his stupid fucking mouth for always getting him trouble.

“You poor naïve tiny newborn baby deer" She said fully aghast, " You’ve NEVER had ice coffee. That's insane. Hoo boy are we going to change that this year”.

He realized that she was joking the whole time and tried to smile off the anger he'd felt, and then this time it was he who gave her a punch on the shoulder in jest.

“Sure… you little tiny … munchkin (he couldn't come up anything as creative as her), I can try ice coffee if you want”. He said _._

 _This was going to be a year of new things, maybe they didn’t all have to be big all-consuming panic inducing ones. He could mix it up bit. He could definitely try to at least._ Adam thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next we will see them interact with more professors. Then we will watch as Adam's next transformation rolls up around the corner.


	6. Chapter 6

Adam studied mostly on his own in his first week or two at Hogwarts, well Blue was there too. He read, took notes, and practiced the occasional spell or charm. While he did this, Blue was more apt to be crafting jewelry of some sort, or writing in her journal. Regardless of her activity, he did like having her around to bounce questions off of and keep him company during lunch and dinner. Blue didn't join Adam for breakfast, because she didn't believe in waking up early unless forced to, whereas Adam set an alarm every morning, at a time Blue would call, 'the unholy butt crack of dawn".

Shortly after his arrival to campus, many of the professors had offered to give him a quick lesson or two. He wasn't sure why everybody was being so helpful, but Persephone had insisted that they were happy to help as it gave them a chance to get back into the swing of teaching for the year. Adam spent almost all his waking his hours studying magical history, theory and practical application, so that he only had to rely of the professor's help for the wand technique, as that was rather hard to learn from a book. 

Blue attended most of the meetings, despite his protests that she might get bored. She insisted saying she was doing it because she had nothing else to do but keep him company. She sat at the back of the room eating yogurt, seemingly only half paying attention and occasionally twirling her wand while muttering under her breath. Adam was particularly glad for her presence in the meet ups he had for Divination preparation. Professor Gwenllian freaked him out. She spoke in confusing riddles that seemed to hint she knew more about him then she should have, and she looked at him as if looking right through him. Blue laughed Adam off. She enjoyed playing along and finding meme omens in the tea. 

Adam found the class very low priority on his to-do list for success, but he had at least slightly looked into the subject. Which only confirmed his suspicions about the field being a bit of waste of time; very few people had actual talent and even less had a true connection (had the ‘sight’). And even if they did, Professors Gwenllian’s rhymes and riddles did not seem very conducive in educative purposes of exploring it. Blue found the class hilarious though, which made it semi-bearable.

They were currently sitting in Flickem’s classroom learning charms. Unlike divination, Adam considered this lesson a priority, as most charms kind of build off of a basic foundation taught in 1st and 2nd year, so he would really need to nail the beginner’s work in order to be able to have any success with the content he and his peers would be learning this semester.

Professor Flickem dived straight into the topic:  
“Wingardium Leviosa, pronounced: wing-GAR-dee-um levi-O-sa, is one of the first charms young witches and wizards in their time here at Hogwarts. It is levitation charm activated by the simple flick and swish of the wands while casting.

Adam had seen this one in his books already, and on only his second try, the feather flew into the air. He gave a small smile in celebration and floated the feather over to where Blue was sitting and tried to tickle her with it.

“Well done Mr. Parrish” said the professor.

Adam looked to Blue for her reaction, but she seemed almost annoyed. She swatted away the feather.

He performed the spell again and flew it at her, determined trying to make her sneeze. 

Blue huffed. “Congratulations you could now pass a 1st year class” she said with an edge of sarcasm. 

Adam’s smile fell. Was Blue right? How was going to be able to catch up and perform up to standard. Who was he kidding? He was a nobody from no-where, the administrators hadn’t made a mistake all those years ago not sending him a letter. He didn’t belong here. 

Blue’s expression changed, when she realized her comment had hit home a little too hard. She switched gears. “Adam, listen. You have actually accomplished so much in your few weeks here. Forget what I said, that was bullshit, I was just being jealous of how fast you’ve caught on with all this okay,” She offered with an apologetic smile.

Jealous? Of him? Was she serious? Why? He knew she was the new kid before him and that being new was not something that happened here, but her still didn’t make any sense; sticking out wouldn't have had dangerous consequences for her. Blue didn’t seem like someone who’d care over what strangers thought of her. He pondered asking her to explain.

“Thanks Blue” Adam said instead. “But why were you jel..”

She stopped him. “Right well, Orla said she needed me to” she paused “…help her organize her closet, so I’ve gotta go. BYeeeeEE” She responded sweeping her stuff into her rucksack and heading out the door.

Now Adam didn’t know Orla that well, but he was pretty certain she wouldn’t turn to Blue for fashion help and he was dead certain that Blue wouldn’t accept if she had asked. 

Professor Flickem interrupted his train of thought. “Ahem as I was about to say. Next, we can try Alohomora charm, also known as the Thief’s Friend, this charm is used to unlock doors and windows that are unprotected by magic….” He continued on.

But Adam was no longer listening, he was staring at the door Blue had just blown through. Why was Blue lying? Blue, jealous? He made no move to follow her though. He had his own secrets, he didn’t need to go prying into other’s lives to find out theirs.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that day, Adam paced the perimeter of the room fretting about the full the next night. He stopped in front of the window near his bed and could just make out the faint outline of the moon despite the daytime sky. Absent mindedly, he ran his fingers lightly over the claw marks on his abdomen, dreading the coming pain. Now having read furiously on the topic, Adam understood the self-violence of the wolf was pretty standard transformation behavior involved in being locked up. He hoped it wouldn’t be as bad this time without his father there to put the wolf on edge in the hours prior to full moon. 

Understandably, Adam knew he still had to be locked up for the safety of those in the neighboring townships. Headmaster Grey and Persephone had planned out how to keep him from harming anyone else and supposedly from harming himself as well, so if he failed to mention that the confined spaces enraged then wolf even worse…. Well they didn’t have to know about that did they, he could deal with the wolf, as long as he didn't have to worry about his father as well. On the flipside of that, people used to assume that any moon related injuries were from his father, and didn’t look much further, not wanting to get involved in another family's business, but now without that assumption dissuading them, people’s curiosity might extend further.

He had looked for Blue earlier, hoping they could spend some time together before he went basically out of commission the day of and after the full moon, but she was nowhere to be found. This was especially surprising considering there was frozen yogurt for dessert.

The next morning, Adam woke up even early than usual, partly due to his body already going all twitchy on him in anticipation of the moon, but also in part from his desire to get in some study time to make up for the next day. He studied through breakfast, not really noticing his hunger until Blue came in with a bowl of containing a fuckton of yogurt, granola, and bananas. 

“I thought you might want to fuel up for the big day” she said placing the bowl in front of him. “fun fact, its super protein packed Icelandic style yogurt called skyr, which fun fact, is technically, in the world of dairy, considered a soft cheese”

Blue loved yogurt. He was pretty sure the house elves noticed as well, as they not only served it every morning, but they also switched up the flavors and styles on a regular basis.

Adam eyed the yogurt, considering whether to stay mad at her for disappearing on him, but he honestly didn’t have the energy, so he grabbed the spoon.

Not realizing how hungry he had been, Adam took a small bite, and then another, and another until he almost wasn’t even chewing anymore.  
“Jesus!” Blues, who had been sharing more yogurt facts with him, paused eyes wide. “Adam you really need to be taking better care of yourself if your allowing your body to get that hungry”.

Adam narrowed his eyes in annoyance and licked his spoon once more, choosing to ignore that comment.

Blue, sensing that this wasn’t really the time, didn’t lecture him further. “I’m just saying, you really …wolfed it down, that’s all,” Blue smiled at her pun.  
Adam rolled his eyes.

“kk, sooo I’ll just stick around here while you study then, until you have to… you have to err get ready for tonight, alright?” she said in a way that suggested she was aware that her little disappearing act might have been poorly timed. 

“Sounds good, “he said secretly glad that he didn’t have to be alone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam's first full moon at Hogwarts

Adam woke up on the ground curled in on himself. As he slowly began to unfurl, the first thing he noticed was the cold. What had once been a thick wool blanket sat in shreds in the corner. _They obviously didn’t know enough about his condition if they had put that within his reach for his comfort_ , he thought.

 As the life seeped back in into his limbs, Adam felt familiar pain. He inhaled sharply trying to take a deep breath. _Yup he had at least one broken rib._

Surveying the damage, the chains that had started the night attached to his extremities had disappeared. It seems that they had held through the night though, as the only claw marks were deep into the meat of his wrists, _unusual location_ , but apparently the only reachable attack point for the wolf. _Good thing he had apparently avoided all major arteries. At least the wolf had a sense of self-preservation to keep that kept me alive._ Adam thought miserably.

 A noise at the door snapped him back to full attention. Flinching instinctively, he made to shield the worst of his injuries from his father with bloodied and grimy hands. Grimacing as the bright light hit him, he was surprised to see not his father’s figure but a slim women silouteted in the door.

“Hello Adam, I’m here to help” She took in the scene. The destruction of the room and then the dirty shivering boy in the center of it “…oh strapping young boy aren’t we...haha” she gave a manicured giggle “well let’s find you some clothes then… ah yes they said in the locked metal chest.”

Flicking her wand, she righted the beaten-up chest and procured an assortment of cleaning supplies and his clothes.

“but first to get you cleaned up”

She made quick work of tidying him up with a few spells. Allowing himself the dignity of his boxer briefs.

Once clean, Adam didn’t like that he was so exposed. The woman was eyeing up his old scars, presumably attributing them all to wolf related injuries. She didn’t look at him with pity which he could appreciate. Not many people saw his injuries, especially the ones on his chest. Pity was the worst reaction. He preferred disgust. He expected it. He knew how to deal with that. The nurse seemed almost hesitant to touch him, as if he might lunge at her.

_Well you are a monster. Why would any one would enjoy the sight of his mangled form, let alone want to touch it?_

“Right!” she said overly cheerful.  “We should be able to fix most of this, unfortunately injuries inflicted by the actual wolf are unfortunately impervious to magical healing, but we’ll do what we can”

She began pulling out potions of this and that.

“careful now, this one going to sting a bit…oh silly me, I’ve forgot to introduce myself.” She had all but forced some potion down his throat, while snapping his bones back into order, the pain was immense, he felt his energy drain, the world began to close in on Adam.  “I’m Nurse P…” was the last thing he’d heard before he blacked out.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Adam woke again, he was in a hospital bed. He blinked slowly. He tried opening his mouth to speak, but it was bone dry. Eying the glass of water, he carefully brought it to his lips and took a sip. He grimaced at the conspicuous bandages on his wrists.  Nothing to be done about that he supposed. The cracked ribs seemed to better, but for an odd tinge where the bruising had been.

His clothes were neatly folded beneath the beside table. Adam leaned over and pulled them back into the bed. Thankful for the long sleeves and pants he quickly, or as quickly as he could currently move, shimmied them on. He replaced the pile of clothes with the medical gown he was somehow wearing.

The nurse exited her office carrying a clipboard.

 “You’re awake” eyes wide, she sounded surprised. “Thought it would take longer hmm…Are you feeling better?”

“err yes thank you” and to his own surprise he did, it normally took him days to recover, not that he was back to 100%, his stomach reminded him with a violent shudder, but still, feeling sick was easier to hide, then major injuries.

“How did I get here?” he questioned voice still raspy.

“Elf magic” she replied casually.

Adam made a note to look more into the Elves. Blue would probably be thrilled.

“May I go then?” he asked politely.

“You don’t want to stay and rest longer?

“No mam, I’ve got studying to catch up on”.

“Before the classes have begun?” she laughed casually.

Adam didn’t answer. He didn’t owe her an explanation and honestly, he was still too exhausted to deal with making pleasantries.

“never to early to get ahead of the game I suppose” she said eyeing him peculiarly.

“right…well I’ll go get started then” He pulled back the blanket and swung his legs out of the bed lethargically. Most of the pain was gone, but his body still felt like molten lead.

She came forward presumably to help, but his waved her off.

“I’m alright”

“Okay, well as a refresher I should remind you that magical healing, while quicker, takes a large toll on the body, especially considering the number of injuries you were afflicted with, so make sure to get a lot of rest, eat well, and stay hydrated.” She noted something on clipboard.

It wasn’t a refresher. He’d never had helped healing before. But she didn’t need to know that.

“Thanks.” He replied, before fulling slipping out of the covers and onto his feet. He wiggled into his shoes. Stretching out his legs, he made his way to the door. Glancing back. Nurse… Nurse… What did she say her name was... well Nurse whoever was still jotting notes down. Adam pushed open the door and made his way back to the slytherin dorm. The rest of the student population would be arriving tomorrow. He needs to make sure he looked presentable and was prepared for the classes the following morning.

It was already getting dark out. He must have unconscious for longer than he thought in the hospital room. The first breeze of fall slipped through the corridor. The walk to his room seemed longer the unusual. _One foot in front of the other._ He told himself.

His vision was pretty shaky right now. Or more accurately his entire being was pretty shaky right now. Adam’s stomach lurched once again. He steeled himself and continued on anyways.

There was a bowl of yogurt and toppings on his desk along with some steaming tea and a note.

He pushed the yogurt out of the way unable to think about eating right now.

-Wasn’t sure if you were going to make it to dinner. They wouldn’t let me visit. Have some Greek yogurt. Fun fact, Greek yogurt is technically Turkish in origin. The elves did something to keep the dishes cooled and heated, so everything should be good to go. Your friend Guppy helped : )  Let me know how the tea is. My mother mixes her own leaves.

Adam took a sip of the tea and almost choked getting it down.

 

-Warning she’s not that good at Tea, but she said this one was good for resting. Anyways hope you’re feeling alright. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the sorting ceremony for the newbies!

With Love,

B

Adam lifted the tea back up for more. No, it wasn’t good. But it was warm liquid. Two things he felt lacking in right now.

He finished the tea and gave a little nibble at the granola on the yogurt. _Hopefully he felt better tomorrow. Wouldn’t make a great impression on his new peers, if he threw up at breakfast. Realistically he knew he needed rest, but he also wanted to take another look at spell theory he had gone over the prior day._

Adam took off his day-old clothes and added them to the meager laundry hamper. He slipped on his ratty old sweats and a worn coke-a-cola shirt, before climbing into bed with his textbook. Eye lids drooping, he managed to just about finish the section before setting it aside and drifting off to sleep.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

The next morning, he woke up to knocking at the door. Seconds later, in flew Blue practically buzzing with energy.

_WTF_ he thought _why is Blue up so early_

“Wakey wakey eggs and bacy sleepy head.” She sang at him.

“What time is it?” he croaked

“10 AM” she chucked his watch from where it sat on his desk, to where he lay in the bed. As he moved to catch it, she saw the bandages on his wrists.

“Shit Adam! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine”

“Are you sure cause if you...”

He interrupted her “I’m fine, please drop it”

He didn’t appreciate the look of concern she gave him. With his bandages he wouldn’t be able to wear his watch, but more importantly he couldn’t believe how late he’d slept in.

She threw open the curtains and sunlight streamed into the room.

“Time to get up! The other’s will be getting her soon. Don’t want to be in bed when they do, do you?”

“I thought they didn’t get here till evening?”

“The welcome ceremony isn’t till the evening. The 1st years have an orientation before that, but the rest of the students are free to do whatever until then”

Adam got of bed. Embarrassed of his grungy pjs, he sorted out his robes for the day. Blue took no notice of his ratty clothes.

 “I know you don’t like the subject, but can you check over these notes quickly to make sure I’ve got it down properly.” He handed her his notebook with the divination notes. Blue, for how much she hated the class, was crazy good at divination.

“I need to get ready” he said.

Adam entered the boys shower room and shucked off his clothes. He hoped the hot water would help sooth his headache that was still simmering from last night. Putting a rudimentary waterproof charm on his bandages, that’d he’d mastered the other day in one the practice lessons with Flikem, Adam then took a short shower and pulled on his fresh robes, before re-entered the boys dorm.

“Your work looks as perfect as ever!” Blue announced.

“Thanks”

“How was the tea?” she asked.

“It was…interesting” he replied not wanting to be rude, but also aware of the fact he had in fact finished the whole cup.

Blue chortled. “Yeah Mother Dearest has many talents, but tea is not one of them. She promised this one was good though. Did you actually drink it? Was it alright?”

Adam looked for the cup for proof that he hadn’t thought it 100% terrible, but it was gone, probably that mysterious elf magic again.

“Yeah no, it wasn’t great, but it was drinkable.” He told her.

Blue lit up. “I’m glad and Maura is going to be delighted she’s finally found someone who is willing to try her all her teas.”

Adam grimaced, and his stomach lurched again at the thought of having to drink more of the tea, if the one last night was considered, one of the better tasting ones.

“Well maybe let’s hold off on that for now” he told her.

Blue laughed again. “Probably a smart move.”

Adam pulled out an apple from his hidden stock pile of food in his desk. Having been unused to food in excess, he had been occasionally taking extra food and storing it in his desk like some kind squirrel preparing for winter.

“ooh got any yogurt in there?” Blue asked as if legitimately expecting that Adam too was a yogurt hoarder.

Adam shook his head and looked through the drawer for something Blue might eat.

“No, but I’ve got some nuts if you like?” He offered.

“Why Adam Parrish, did you just offer me your nuts?” she mocked.

He swatted at her. “You should be so lucky” he joked.

 She smiled.

 “Well we better get moving. Need to get a good vantage point to judge all the returners.”

“Don’t you mean meet?” he questioned, getting nervous already.

“Nope, put your nerves away Adam, we aren’t meeting them yet, I thought we could do a little watching first, see who you want to replace me with as your new friend.” Blue said lightly, but perhaps with a little part of her that was worried that Adam would meet new people and move on.

“Don’t be silly Blue, nobody wants to get to know the new kid, you’re stuck with me for a little longer”

Blue was reassured of their friendship for at least the next few weeks as far she could tell, but in fact Adam had hinted at his own fear as well.   _He needed to fit in or at least appear to, or people might start asking too many questions. Questions he couldn’t answer without putting his ability to go to Hogwarts in jeopardy._

“Well let’s go then. We’ve got to get up there before they arrive.” She beckoned him.

“Sound like plan,” Adam agreed and followed her out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear god, sorry it's taking so long for everybody to meet, it will in fact happen in the next chapter.


End file.
